Ecommerce: ASOS gets creative on mobile

Author: CIM COM

undefined At a time when accepted wisdom is that mobile is great for browsing products but less effective for actual sales, clothing retailer ASOS is bucking the trend. The online brand now gets 69% of traffic from mobile and its mobile sales have reached 51% of online sales in 2016. That’s a growing share of growing sales too, since ASOS orders are up year-on-year. For this brand, it’s a combination of clear strategic direction, operational finesse, a culture of measuring everything and shedloads of creativity.

Compare this to the general trend for UK online spending. On average, 86% of online spending is transacted on a desktop PC or laptop, with just 8% from a smartphone device and 6% from tablets, according to a recent Ipsos and PayPal study.

Right now, ASOS is doing a lot right. The fundamentals of the fashion it stocks and the customer service it provides are right. But it’s the brand’s creativity and mobile-first approach which are leveraging these strengths.

It has a clear goal to be the leading online fashion destination for 20-somethings. ASOS has invested in IT, redesigned and relaunched its iOS app for Apple devices and speeded up the checkout experience for Android smartphones and tablets. Around 85,000 products are stocked and 4,000 new items introduced each week. In fashion, where ‘new’ is always desirable ASOS’s ability to jump on new trends is a great strength. Also, fundamental to ASOS’s success is its policy of free delivery and free returns, which other retailers have now followed.

Amongst the steps ASOS have taken are these creative ways to build a loyal following:

Developing a customer experience that is designed to lead to advocacy and sales by focusing on price, delivery and product choice that’s in tune with its customers.
Having a presence across the social media channels which 20-somethings use: Instagram (5.1m followers), Facebook (4m likes), Google+ (2.4 m followers), Twitter (1m followers), Pinterest 534k followers), YouTube and Tumblr. And testing new social media formats such as Snapchat filters, Instagram Stories and Facebook Live Video.
Running a customer loyalty programme in the UK, for ‘ASOS A-Listers’ introduced this year, known as ASOS Rewards. The scheme offers points on purchases which lead to discounts on future spend, with £5 off every £100, as well as birthday discounts and other benefits.
Launching a superfans (advocacy and content-generation) programme, ‘Access all ASOS’ which gives members exclusive discounts, benefits and access to events. The initial phase attracted 3,000 applicants and 770 superfans were recruited. Within 4 months 7,000 pieces of content were generated with a reach of 12 million. See the agency view and a superfan bloggers view.
Running the superfans initiative with fans now dubbed ‘ASOS Insiders’. Influencers are amongst the first to get ASOS fashion updates as they post content. The clever bit is that this is shoppable content. Images of the wearer in ASOS clothes are linked to a dynamic personalised clothing collection so their followers can get the look. Read a roundup of the programme.
Focusing on engaging content – ASOS publishes 60,000 pieces of content for example ASOS Studio; As Seen On Me; competitions; community initiatives:

ASOS Studio – where behind the scenes photos are shared on Instagram enabling customers to get closer to the business.
Value-added competitions with third party prizes such as the recent Thomson holidays tie-up.
As Seen On Me scheme with photo-sharing of crowdsourced fashion images on its website and Instagram generating almost 300,000 posts. The hashtag references ASOS roots (since it provided a way to find the kind of clothing celebrities were wearing - As Seen On Screen) and the content is shoppable, with links to ASOS products.
Community initiatives, supporting upcoming creatives with funding and guidance to pursue their personal ‘passion project’.
Online magazine ‘ASOS Likes’ which is now available in French and German editions.

ASOS versus the poor state of mobile retail

The online retailer isn’t necessarily outspending its rivals on marketing - last year ASOS marketing spend was set at 5.3% of revenue. But it is leveraging its spend to great effect, by thinking ‘mobile-first’ against a backdrop of other retailers failing to grasp the mobile retail opportunity.

ASOS has gained 10 million installs of their app, and reached 12.4 million active customers by the end of 2015, an increase of 24%. In addition, visits grew by 22% and orders by 30%, reflecting an engaged customer base.

In contrast, last year’s report from the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) revealed that:

40% of consumers feel mobile retail could be improved.
Only 16% of retail apps were used ‘a lot’ by consumers.
27% of shopping apps had been downloaded and never used.
Recurrent problems cited in this and other studies include slow loading sites and poor payment options.

The report concludes that UK retailers are missing out on £6.6 billion sales revenue per year due to their below-par mobile offering.

Brands inside and outside of the fashion arena would do well to learn from the ASOS approach.